Have you survived the first couple weeks of school, or are you hanging on by your fingernails? Hopefully this upcoming long weekend will give you a chance to catch your breath. The first two weeks are behind us, with all their new schedules and procedures. Enjoy the long weekend and soak up the last bits of summer - you deserve it!
Safety and Security
- Gmail Security Alert for all 2.5 Billion Users - Steps to Take Now
- Verify a Security Alert is From Google
- Warning: Instagram Users Targeted by Sneaky New Phishing Scam
- FBI Issues Warning to All Smartphone Users — This Dangerous New Scam Could Be At Your Door
- Why Every School Should be Using Gemini - Data Privacy
Tips & Tutorials
- Unplugging These 7 Common Household Devices Helped Reduce My Electricity Bills
- A Teacher's Guide to Chromebooks (video)
- Combating Sneaky Students
- Google NotebookLM for Teachers: 10 Things to Know for Educators
- Gemini's Guided learning - Moving from Answers to Understanding for Students
- Vault Learning Games Library
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Gmail Security Alert for all 2.5 Billion Users - Steps to Take Now
Gmail Security Alert for all 2.5 Billion Users - Steps to Take Now, by Davey Winder from Forbes
You will not be contacted by Google Support - do not respond to emails, texts or phone calls claiming to be them. I'll also remind you again - NEVER reset your password for any online account using a link in an email or text, and NEVER share your 2 factor authentication code with anyone. I suspect this threat is mainly for personal Gmail users, but I'm sharing the info just in case it also involves business and education users. With education accounts, there is also some additional security layers in place in our infrastructure, but no system is fool proof. Our students should be isolated from this threat as their accounts are within a "walled garden" where only authorized senders can contact them. So continue to be ever vigilant with both your school and personal online accounts.
Verify a Security Alert is From Google
This article from Google Guidebooks explains how Google uses security alerts, and how to confirm a security alert is, in fact, from Google.
Warning: Instagram Users Targeted by Sneaky New Phishing Scam
Warning: Instagram Users Targeted by Sneaky New Phishing Scam, by Jiblin Joseph from PC Magazine
This is another variation of the usual phishing attempt we all receive. Protect yourself, regardless of the current flavor of the month scam, by following these hard and fast rules:
- Never login to any account from an email or text link - go to the website itself through its app or a browser to verify the legitimacy of the message.
- Never click on ANY links in an email or text - see above
- The more urgent the message, the more likely it's a scam - ignore or report it
- If any payment is requested in gift cards or Bitcoin, it's a scam - ignore or report it
FBI Issues Warning to All Smartphone Users — This Dangerous New Scam Could Be At Your Door
FBI Issues Warning to All Smartphone Users — This Dangerous New Scam Could Be At Your Door, from Tom's Guide by Alyse Stanley
Let's add to the list of not clicking on links from people we don't know - don't click on QR codes unless you know what they are for. Definitely don't click on any QR codes on random packages.
Why Every School Should be Using Gemini - Data Privacy
Why Every School Should be Using Gemini - Data Privacy, from Control Alt Achieve by Eric Curts
This is a nice privacy endorsement from Eric Curts.
Unplugging These 7 Common Household Devices Helped Reduce My Electricity Bills
Unplugging These 7 Common Household Devices Helped Reduce My Electricity Bills, by Maria Diaz from ZDNet
I don't know about you, but the peak hours electricity rates in the summer usually send me running around my house every Monday morning unplugging anything that doesn't get used on a daily basis. Learn which devices you should definitely be unplugging.
A Teacher's Guide to Chromebooks (video)
Just as a Windows laptop is different than a Mac laptop, chromebooks are a little different than both. Help your students make the most of their Chromebook by watching this video. Many of the tips will help you using Chrome on any device as well.
Combating Sneaky Students
Combating Sneaky Students, from Chromebook Classroom by John Sowash
Do you have students who always seem to find a way to bypass GoGuardian? Listen to this podcast by John Sowash and Eric Griffith.
Google NotebookLM for Teachers: 10 Things to Know for Educators
Google NotebookLM for Teachers: 10 Things to Know for Educators, from Ditch That Textbook by John Sowash
This is a very useful tool that is baked right into Google Workspace for education. Find out ten ways it can help you. It is currently turned off for students.
Gemini's Guided learning - Moving from Answers to Understanding for Students
Gemini's Guided learning - Moving from Answers to Understanding, by Eric Curts from Control Alt Achieve
Gemini's guided learning for students will support learners, but not do the work for them. Find out how.
Vault Learning Games Library
This site contains a collection of educational games from the Field Day Lab at the Wisconsin Center of Education Research. On the Vault Game Library site, you'll find 75 games for grades K-12, covering a wide range of subjects and topics, from creators, such as iCivics, PhET, Learning Games Lab, and more. You can easily filter the games by grade level, subject, topics and maker.
